From the Ashes of Chocolaty Goop
by Arya Lupin
Summary: Seventeen year ago a promise was made. Fourteen year ago a promises died. Yet like a phoenix, some promises are just meant to be. From the ashes the promise will rises and friendships will grow, and lovers are found...
1. Prologue

"Sometimes you remind me a lot of James. He called it my 'furry little problem' in company. Many people were under the impression that I owned a badly behaved rabbit."  
_- Remus Lupin_

Prologue

Prowler

Men with good intentions make promises. Men with good character keep them.

* * *

The house of Number 12 Grimmauld Place was oddly quiet that day. Although Harry, Hermione and the rest of the Weasley bunch were there for the Holidays, there was not a echo of sound. There was only the soft breathing of one man as a slowly walked up the stairs.

When he reached the top he paused hoping no one had seen him mount the staircases. It appeared no one had. Being as quiet as he could he slipped down the hallway making a face when his shoe scraped against the ground with a loud squeak.

The man, for it was a man who moved about the house so silently, paused in front of a closed bedroom door. He leaned forward slightly listening for a time to the deep even breathing that came from within. Pulling out his wand the man tapped the door pushing it open silently. Stepping just inside the man paused again looking back over his shoulder again.

The hallway was empty; although several doors down the man could hear laughter. It sounded as though the twins were up to no good again.

Carefully the man turned stepping further into the room. He left the door slightly ajar the easier to make an easy escape. The room was semi dark, sunlight was streaming in through the heavy moth eaten curtains that hung in the window.

A bed sat in the middle of the room pushed up against the wall. A man lay in the center of the bed. He was laying on his stomach his breath leaving him in almost silent puffs. His face was pale in the milky sun light.

From his place near the door the man watched Remus for a few minutes. He seemed deeply asleep, worn out by yet another full moon. Words from a long time ago floated through the mans mind 'Remus never asked to be a werewolf…' He had never heard more true words spoken. If every there was a man that did not deserve the hand he was dealt it was Remus.

Taking a deep breath the man turned away from Remus who grunted in his sleep. A row of bookshelves sat against on wall full to bursting with books. The man bent down reading through some of the book names.

'Romance novels…' The man thought surprised. 'So the little werewolf had a dirty little secret…' he thought moving slowly down the rows of books. None of these were the books that he was looking for. Within a few minutes it became clear that the book he wanted was not there.

Frowning the man stood up from his crouched position turning back around. Remus had wrapped his sheets down around his waist his chest pair. Turning away from him the man walked to a closed closet opening it slowly. A bunch of old robes that were well worn yet still in moderate condition hung in rows in the closet. A few mix matched shoes lay on the closet floor along with an ancient trunk.

Grinning, the man got down onto the floor and opened the lid carefully. Inside was a jumbled mess of old ink bottles, quill, old school uniforms, text books and letters or unused parchment. Being careful the man slowly sorted through the mess hoping to find what he was looking for.

Behind him Remus grunted the man could hear rustling sheets as he got comfy again.

The intruder sat still waiting for the silence to return to the room. With another groan Remus flopped onto his stomach letting out a snore.

Being extremely quiet the man turned back to his task at hand digging through the old school trunk. In the corner of the trunk wrapped in a pair of frayed dress robes he found what he was looking for.

It was a old book the pages withered and old. Flipping it open the man leafed through it grimacing when one of the pages cracked.

Shutting the book the man stood up, tucking the book into his robes.

Still being silent the man walked over to where Remus was sleeping. The old man was snoring lightly his breath coming out in little huffs that ruffled his hair.

"I made a promise old friend. And I promise, I am going to keep it." The man said softly before turning around and walking out of the room checking twice to make sure he had the book with him.

Fin


	2. Chapter 1 If I Die Young

"I'm bored," said Sirius. "Wish it was full moon."  
"You might," said Lupin darkly from behind his book. "We've still got Transfiguration, if you're bored you could test me. Here..." and he held out his book.  
But Sirius snorted. "I don't need to look at that rubbish, I know it all."

Chapter One

If I Die Young

Love is stronger than death even though it can't stop death from happening, but no matter how hard death tries it can't separate people from love. It can't take away our memories either. In the end, life is stronger than death."

* * *

Bright sunlight glared down giving everything a yellow hue. A pleasant buzz echoed in the young witch's ear and the screams of anguish were pleasantly lost on her. Even the voice, the one inflicting so much pain seemed like a fall of memory to her. Only the pain seemed to penetrate the deep fog that now surrounded her mind. Even the pain though, was like a far distant memory; a memory that only her body, the vessel in which her mind was trapped in reacted to.

"Crucio," The voice said and the young Auror screamed driving her head back into the ground and arching her body like a bow. It felt as though someone was placing red hot stones on every surface of her body starting from her feet up to her toes. "What's the matter girl? You cannot stand the pain?" The words swirled around her mind jumbled up and running together. She tried to slow them down, rolling the words on her tongue trying to make sense of them. Eventually though she just gave up. It was a waste of her time anyway. If she was going to die here, on her very first Auror mission than she would prefer to spend it taking a walk down memory lane.

It was kind of poetic really; her and her fellow class mates in the Auror academy had always joked about dying young. It had been a morbid game they played whenever a particular lesson had gotten under their skin. "Bury me in satin," she had always said. When she had said it though, she had not known that it would come true so soon. Not even a week out of the academy and she had been sent on a dangerous mission with senior agents.

It had been Singjaws idea, he had thought that the young woman's talent would come in very handy. There was not many metamorphous out there that could do what the young woman did. It was a talent that was extremely rare and often times disappeared for long periods of time. Before resurfacing in the most unlikely of places at the most unlikely times.

She had never got to uses that talent though. No sooner had they arrived at their destination then they had been ambushed. The senior auror she had been standing next to moaned and collapsed face forward onto the ground as soon as his apparation was complete. She was still laying next to him, could feel his body shake every so often against her hand. Yet she could not muster the strength to do or say anything. She could not offer any kind of comfort to the man who was laying there dying.

It was strange in a way, that was what most upset the young witch. She was not able to offer any kind of comfort to the man who was dying beside her. Could not get her mouth which had gone horrible dry to form any kind of words that might be of some solace.

"Crucio," The voice said again.

She screamed again, the white fog flooding up her mind and her breath being stolen from her body. She was left gasping her mind spinning, a thousand different memories running through her head. None of the memories made sense though, it was like watching a silent muggle movie in your head. The images where grainy some darker than others as if the mind was not quite sure what they all meant.

She was at a long ago Christmas, her hair had been changed to a bright orange color. She was sitting next to a taller older guy who wore his black hair grungy and around his shoulders. He was smiling at her listening to what she was saying, even though she was sure her younger self sounded rather foolish.

A wedding formed in her mind. For some people she barely knew. She had been fifteen than, her hair a bright orange color to upset her mom. She had tried everything that year to make her mother mad. She had run into the bride coming back from the loo. She was a pretty red haired lady with stunning green eyes. She remembered very little easily of the wedding. Just that the Bride had said she liked her hair. She had found that rather funny at the time, she had spent the entire trip to the wedding arguing with her mom about what the Bride and all of the guest in attendance might think of how she looked.

"Just tell us what we want to know girl, and we'll end this pain," Again the voice was speaking. His or her words sounded from a faraway place as if they were swimming through a deep ocean to reach her brain.

She scowled trying to figure out what the words meant. She knew they had a meaning. All words had a meaning, some even had two or three different meanings. She groaned shaking her head and trying to force her eyes open. She wanted to see the calming yellow light again. It held meaning, and warmth in it. The light which was fading becoming more of a water sea than the blinding sunlight as it always was.

Raised voices echoed across the deserted street where they had been ambushed. Someone roared off in the distance, a battle cry instead of the cries of the anguished and dying.

The voice sounded far off yet close by, at certain times she thought that they stood right above her before moving away. She could feel spells whizzing past her head rustling the grass on which she lay upon. Her eyes fluttered open and closed and she tried to focus on anything…anything but the bright water yellow sunlight that glared down at her.

In another place, in another time she was sure that the sunlight would feel warm. The grass she was laying on would feel soft the small blades tickling her skin. Yet at this moment everything felt disconnected and painful. Every little breath that escaped through her mouth felt like a thousand tiny needles were being shoved into her chest and straight down into her lungs.

The shouting was fading now; or maybe it was just her hearing. Her breath which had felt harsh a moment before came easier now. In small short little gasps that left her feeling quite unsatisfied.

Laying there she remembered a philosopher that she had once read about. Whether it had been recently or in years past she could not remember. She had never liked him much, yet some of the words came back to her now.

'_Dying is the easy part. Your lungs will fill with air, and a thousand different thoughts will run through your head. None of them will matter though. You have already made your choice, you are through fighting. Fighting hurts. It is pain like no other pain, and renders you useless at times. Yet still the thoughts will run through your head, and when they finally stop you begin to count backwards from ten. Your lungs will exhale the last full breath of air you breathed in with choppy stops. For even if your body and mind have lived long enough, have chosen to move on to the next great adventure we still fight. It is in our nature. Even so, the air in your lungs will run out and your chest will stop rising and falling. Then all you can hear, all you can feel is your pounding heart beat. No other sounds, no other pain. Just your pounding heart beat. Pound…Pound…Pound…until finally it stops. And then you are gone. It is when we fight back against dying that we hurt. When every nerve ending is on fire sending a thousand daggers of pain through your body. Some may wither on the ground clenching their teeth and yelling words that have little to no meaning. Their muscles will tense and in the fight of bringing more air into your body, begging you to suffocate yourself. Dying will always be the easy part. Fighting back though; is like a thousand fiery needles driven through you at once. The great plunge off a cliff into the unknown as you hold your breath hoping that what is waiting at the end of this fight is more…more something. Something that we do not understand, more love, more friendship…just more…Not the end. We don't want to ever give up. We want to fight until our body just give out on us…and even then..we want. More…_

Her eyes fluttered open again; she had not known she had closed them. Underneath her head she could feel the soft grass and the beads of water that had clang to the blades in the early morning. It had to be nearing high noon by now, the time of day when she normal paused in her busy schedule to enjoy a cup of tea. Sunlight still glared down upon her creating beads of sweat on her forehead, she could feel them rolling down her face off the side of her nose. Or maybe they were tears running from her eyes. She could not tell, and she did not have the energy to lift her hand and check.

"….look for survivors…."

"…..seven senior aurors….one first year…."

"Found another one here…he's dead…."

The voices were talking again. Yet these ones were not cold and filled with hatred. They were filled with sadness and anguish. None of them were yelling anymore, the harsh flashes of spells which created different colors against the pale yellow sky had vanished. Only the yellow sky stayed the same…or was it the yellow light? That and the new voice which sounded so soft to her ears; a welcome change from the hate filled voice that had been shouting spells. With a sigh she felt her eyes fluttering shut again. It was to hard to keep them open, and yet she wanted them to stay open. Wanted to keep looking up at the sunlight, if this was the last time she was going to see it than she wanted to get her fill of it. She had always loved the sun. Had loved laying out on the beach as a busty blond, or a bookish brown haired girl. Loved feeling the sand between her feet as she ran along the beach, and the cold feel of water as she waded in up to her knees. She never went further, had never learned as a child how to swim. Now she was much to old too, and it was too little too late. Even with the spells no longer flying about over head she knew it was unlikely for her to leave here alive. Not with all the spells that hit her. Not with all the blood she could feel slowly slipping away from her.

Someone moved past her where she was laying on the ground. She could hear the soft rustling of grasses and the light pitter patter of feet moving slowly. He was looking for something; the rest of the missing aurors, and she one of them. Would the person find her here? Would it already be to late? She could feel her breath leaving her. It was coming out in short little pants now and her body felt heavier than ever before. Her eyelids which she fought to keep open seemed to be beyond her control most times. They kept drifting shut and then opening again letting her see one more glimpse at the brilliant sun before the fell shut again.

The man lying beside her twitched again, his foot brushing up against her thigh. She wondered if he knew she was there. If he knew that he was not alone even if he felt as though he were. The sound of footsteps faded again almost as though they had never been there. And they were alone again. Her and the fallen aurors. She hadn't even learned their names when she was sent out with them. They were just the senior aurors the ones in charge of the mission. The ones that she had to listen to no matter what.

"….Find anything…"

"…Still three missing…."

"…..what a mess…."

The voices again, sound lost and desperate unable to do anything. Her eyes fluttered open again, and she could see the yellow sun again. Some of the warmth seemed to be touching her face now warming her chilly body.

Those who were searching sounded brave and strange. As if they were taking strength from each other as they looked for those who had been ambushed.

'Together' she thought trying to push herself up on arms that felt like Jello. She needed to get them to see her…need to get them to come over here. The senior auror was still twitching besides her groaning softly under his breath. She knew most of them had families, little children who needed their mommy's and daddy's to come home safe and sound. Her arms held her an inch from the ground for a moment before giving up and throwing her back down. She landed back onto the grass with a muffled gasp of pain. It hurt less now though, then it had when she first had been hit. Almost as though her body had gotten used to the feeling of pain. 'Wand' she thought, stretching her fingers out and feeling along the grass for it. She needed to find her wand so she could make some type of noise or light spell to bring them to where she was. She was almost certain her wand had fallen near where she was laying. She had been holding it in her hands when she fell backwards. Slowly, as though her arms weighed a thousand pounds she searched along the ground feeling nothing but the smooth grasses and mud beneath her fingertips. "Lumos." A pale white light flashed on the ground a few inches from where her finger tips where laying. It was not bright enough to get anyone's attention. Like her, her magic was weak, almost non-existent. She reached out her fingers creeping along the ground until they finally touched the soft wood and she was able to clasp it.

Her mind searched for a spell to uses…any that would not require a lot of strength or energy. Yet she was unable to think of anything. Her mind felt soft and mushy as if she was butter spread over to much scone.

Again the man next to her flinched and his voice came out in a quiet groan. For a long moment nothing moved, even those who were walking.. searching paused. And then they kept walking away, moving in the wrong direction from where they were laying.

She cursed under her breath coughing and gasping as she tried to think of a spell and bring in more air into her lungs. "Avis," she muttered flicking her wrist as Proffers Flickwick had taught her to do. A flock of birds shot from the end of her wand soaring up into the air in a twirl of music.

"….damn-it all…."

"….where did the birdies come from…" this voice sounded amused as if it were laughing at another's expense.

She wondered for a moment weather the birds had hit one of them as they took off into the air. Not that it really mattered. She just needed them to come and find them. To find the senior auror who was laying a few feet away from her groaning and flinching every few seconds.

"…..over this way…" a male voice said. She turned towards that voice, could not help it, even as her body screamed in pain. The male voice had been soft but very masculine, he spoke with a teachers voice and she doubted that it had ever been raised in anger before…She could see the hem of shabby robs as the brushed into view stopping first next to the senior Auror and pressing a hand to his throat. She could see the males hand long and slender, she wondered if he ever did anything beside teaching. For she was sure he was or had been a teacher at some point in his life. Her moved to her than, bending down next to her. His hands when they touched her face where soft and gentle. The work roughened fingers pressed gentle at her pulse point in her neck. She once again forced her eyes open looking from his arm…which was clad in a grey sleeve up to his shoulder and neck. She could see the muscles and veins of the neck with every breath he took in and out. His chin was strong enough with course brown hair on it, his noses and cheek bones were nothing out of the ordinary. On the side of his face where three long slim scars. In effect he was utterly ordinary, a boring old professor who could hold a student transfixed for hours on end. Of course she had always had a thing for Professor and their "voices." Blinking she forced her eyes to meet those of his. They were chocolate brown, orbs of warmth and kindness. They offered understanding and comfort and held her transfixed. His lips were moving again, his head turning away as he shouted at someone over his shoulder. She couldn't hear him, but knew whatever words he was saying would only bring help.

She moved her arm slowly fighting against the tide of pain that lanced up fingers into her shoulder. Carefully she put her hand on the side of his face, the skin underneath it., even the skin where the scar was felt smooth. Beads of sweat where trickling down his neck damping the ends of her fingers. Carefully hoping to Merlin it would not cause more pain then it already had she forced his face to hers.

He smiled at her showing rows of brilliantly white teeth, "Your alright now, their gone…Mad Eye just sent for Ministry Med-Witches, they should be here in a moment and have you fixed up in less time than that."

"N-na—name?"

He smiled again wider, something about his smile was comforting. It made him look, not handsome, but not plain either."I'm Remus Lupin. And you would be?"

"Auror…..Tonks," she muttered feeling her hand slip away from his face. She felt the impact of it as it hit her stomach and moaned softly even as the darkness that took away the sunlight and that ordinary but not ordinary face with eyes of melting chocolate away…

She heard him and someone else chuckling, even as the darkness closed in, "Eyes of melting chocolate ehhh?" A gravelly voice growled and then chuckled loudly…

A sea of creamy white strayed back down at Auror Tonks where she lay. A dull ache throbbed inside of her skull and small tingles of pain flashed up and down her entire body. Her room was unusually silent; she could hear the dripping of the faucet in the other corner of the room. It was unusually, normally she would have a radio playing soft music, the better to keep the quiet away.

Tonks moved her head slightly to the left; a wave of nausea passed through her. She squeezed her eyes and lips shut into hard lines trying to keep the sickness at bay. Blowing a breath out from her nose Tonks let her eyes flutter open.

A man was sitting beside her bed, his chin resting on his chest and his mismatched feet crossed in front of him. His grey hair fell around his grizzled face and his lopsided mouth was pressed into a grim line. Most of his face was covered up by scars and one of his eyes had been removed and replaced with a glasses one in the color of electric blue. "About time you woke up girl," He growled opening his one good eye to glare at her. His voice was gravel as though he had been forced to drink acid or something. Even so he spoke in a soft caring tone.

"What happened?" Tonks asked. She knew there had been a battle, remembered straying up into that bright sunlight wishing it would absorb her up into its bright warmth. Remembered fighting back against the darkness if only to save the fallen Auror next to her. "What happened to the man I was laying beside?"

"Anderson will be fine, although he lost two fingers on one hand," Mad Eye said dismissively as though he though losing fingers was no big deal, "You arrived at ambush, apparently someone tipped the dark wizards off you where coming….What have I told you about constant vigilances?"

"That my utter lack of vigilance would one day get me killed," Tonks said quickly remembering that old mantra from her days at the Auror Academy. Although the Ministry had driven him out a year before she joined them he still came in to assist with class. Most of what Tonks knew about fighting Dark Wizards came from what Mad Eye had given her. Since the first day he met her, when Tonks had tried to kill him by falling on him for a second floor landing, he had taken her under his cloak. Teaching her the ins and outs of the Ministry, and reminding her again and again to trust no one, and to be constantly be on guard.

"I was right wasn't I?" He growled not liking Tonks' tone of indifference, she was a Auror after all, they always got hurt. It was unavoidable in their line of work.

Tonks nodded meekly against her pillows pressing her lips together again as another wave of nausea passed over her. Moving, it seemed, was not her friend at the moment.

"Interesting hair color, kind of clash with your face though," Moody growled standing up and limping around Tonks' bed. She could hear the clunk, clunk, clunk of his foot a soothing familiar sound although many of her classmates said it struck fear in their hearts. Tonks had never understood that in the time she had known him, Mad Eye had become a important factor in her life, almost as though he had always been there without really being there. "Here," He said shoving a cup in front of Tonks face. A fowl smelling potion rose up and Tonks turned her head away making a face. "It's medicine girl," he growled lifting her head up and tipping the cup back so the liquid poured into her mouth.

Tonks sputtered and choked for a moment as the fowl tasting liquid drained down her throat. Once it was down Mad Eye let her lay back down setting the cup down on the bedside table with a slight thump.

"That could've been poison girl," Mad Eye growled stomping back over to his seat. Tonks rolled her eyes up to the ceiling and then back down.

"Can't be dead though, hurts too much for that," Tonks said shrugging her shoulders and then regretting that she did so. She shifted her eyes to look up at the ceiling again, at the white that glared down at her. No warmth gazed back down on her, as the yellow had done. White meant sterile walls and med witches and wizards wearing white robes with horrid smelling potions. Tonks hated the hospital wing, had always endured the pain of being hurt and sick then the torture of going to the Hospital Wing. Now she was stuck here, in a room with only four walls, and a door painted the most horrid of white colors. Tonks doubted there was even a window that looked out on the outside world, even a enchanted one that painted a picture false as it may be. For a moment it felt as though those sterile white walls were closing in on her, Tonks turned her head looking again at Mad Eye and releasing the breath that she'd been holding. "Why are you here?" She asked rudely noting that she was no longer nausea whenever she moved. Her body just ached, small fiery pins of pain which spread up her body and stole her breath.

Mad Eye grinned showing rows of straight white teeth. As white and clean as the paint on the four walls that surrounded them. "I've come to yell at you of course."

"You're not yelling now," Tonks pointed out and then regretted it. She had been on the receiving end of more than one of Mad Eye's yelling lectures, her eye drums had not recovered from the last one which had occurred over two months ago.

Mad Eye grinned even wider, it looked as though he was trying to split his face in half. His face looked as though someone with very little ability had taken up a carving knife and cut into it. Then when they got bored of cutting into his face they stabbed the knife in a croaked slash creating what they thought was a smiling mouth. It was more like a grimace showing his teeth more on one side then it did on the other. "Not yet anyone," Mad Eye said darkly, "Still not sure if I am saving the yelling for later though," Tonks raised an eyebrow. Mad Eye was not known for his patience in anything other than battle. Even then he fought with the strength and swiftness of a hurricane hitting a town unawares. No one ever knew who his next victim was. "We were waiting for you to wake up."

"I'm awake. And who is we?" Tonks asked yawning. She was already tired although she could not have been awake for longer than a few minutes. What was it about being in a battle even without being hurt like she was, that left you so exhausted you could barely function?

"But you were sleeping," Moody growled and Tonks raised a eyebrow. Had the strictest Auror that the ministry had ever seen just made a joke? Either he had or Tonks had hit her head a lot harder then she thought when they were ambushed.

"Right then, keep your secrets," Tonks grumbled making Moody bark out a laugh. She settled back against the pillows looking up at the white ceiling again. There were lines in it that she had not seen before, thousands of them molding together and creating some type of design. It was almost like trying to find shapes in the clouds, the lines connecting and disconnecting at different angels. Tonks blinked thinking that the lines where moving falling in on her for a moment-

_There was a moment of deathly silence followed by the loud CRACK of the arriving Aurors. Tonks stood slightly to the left of Anderson her hair a deep black and worn short that day. She had seen no reason to wear it a outrageous color and bring attention to herself and fellow Aurors. This mission would be hard enough without someone bringing more trouble to them. Anderson looked over at her giving Tonks a encouraging smile, one that she returned. He had been doing that since he learned Tonks would be on this mission. As if he just wanted to reassure her that everything would be alright, just a retain clean up a Dark Wizard gathering. It was easy, these senior Aurors had been doing it for years. Donaven turned raising his hand up, "Lets go slo—" A jet of green light flew across the ground. It picked Donaven up spun him around and he slide across the ground with a grumbled sigh._

Tonks blinked watching as the fuzzy images of her mind faded back into present time. There was the white ceiling again, a constant fixture in a tidal wave of emotions, something to anchor here to the bed, and not allow herself to be swept up and away. She had thought becoming a Auror would be the hardest part. Never in her mind would the glory of being a Auror be over shadowed by her first battle. Mad Eye had once told her that the first battle was called the "Dream Killer,' and she had laughed at that. Now though Tonks could feel those dreams that she had clung to drifting away. They were like a silky blanket that kept slipping from a naked body. Or the slide of bodies together in a erotic dance the blankets sliding away and pooling on the ground. Whenever one of the lovers bent to cover themselves again they would find them upon the floor in the next moment a silky pool which refused to be picked up. Those memories that did remain where fragmented and scattered a whirl pool in still water. Each time she would reach to try and pluck a memory it slipped away from her dropping on her minds floor and shattering.

Beside her Mad Eye was strangely quiet; Tonks glanced at him. His head had once again fallen to his chest and in his grizzled hands he held a daily prophet. He looked fuzzy as if he was swimming in a pool of water close enough to touch but the moment she tried to touch he would vanish; burst into a thousand little ripples. Tonks moved her right arm attempting to reach her face, a fiery pain burned up her arm; she jerked up right biting into her bottom lip as she screamed. Her body shook fighting against the urge to vomit what little was in her stomach. She could not remember the last time she had eaten anything.

She felt as though she was standing in the middle of an hourglass. Each piece of sand which fell down on her felt like an ember burning into her skin. The bottom of the glass on which she stood was filling up, except the sand that fell down on her was white and when it fell to the bottom of where she stood it was stained a deep burgundy. Her stomach twisted again, Tonks pressed her mouth together tightly as her body rocked forward trying to eject its emptiness against the smooth glass planes that she was trapped inside. She could not remember, and she was trapped. Trapped inside an hour glasses which had taken the shape of her mind refusing to let her free. 'Dream Killers,' that was what senior agents always called the first mission. The first mission would either make a Auror or destroy them. Tonks could remember stories about Aurors who had made it through all the trainings, only to leave after their first mission. Some of them moved on, some of them stayed trapped in their time glasses of memories from their first mission. The small beads of sand which slammed into their bodies burning; until their skin was so scared they were not recognizable.

"…I did the same thing after my first mission," a gravelly voice said. A hand was stroking up and down her back soothingly. Tonks sniffled loudly rubbing her face against her knee which she had drawn up to her chest. Her body protested the position in which she was sitting strongly but she refused to pay it any mind. If she could she would curl up into a hole and hide there until the healing balm of days passing began healing her again. "….the Headmaster made the mistake of letting my wand being by my side. I'm afraid I am one of the reason his nose is crooked." Again Tonks sniffed loudly finally letting herself rest back against her pillows. The hour glasses was gone, only the white ceiling stayed above her, with its lines that connected and intercepted each other. A grizzled hand appeared in her vision soothing her hair back kindly, scar lines ran down his hands but despite the scars his touch was surprisingly soft. Not for the last time Tonks thought he would have made a great father. "I'm afraid Mini never quite got over that one."

Mini, it was not the first time that Tonks had heard him say the name. In the beginning when she had first met him, she had imagined a sister version of Moody. With the same grizzled hair and same normally two eyes. That fantasy was quickly dashed though, Moody never had a sister, and it was common opinion around the ministry that he had sprang up from a turnip patch one day fully grown. She had seen Mad Eye with dirt in his hair time and time agian, it was not a hard image to imagine.

Tonks sniffed again loudly wiping her nose again on her pajamas. She sighed shutting her eyes and blinking again. Still tear leaked out from her eyes running down her face and leaving salty trails on her cheeks. Crying. It was like turning on a running faucet which would not stop leaking down her face. Her nose to seemed to have began to leek snot and tears running together and piece of her green hair sticking to her face. Tonks must have changed her hair color when she had felt so sick earlier her stomach tumbled at the thought like a boulder turning down a hillside. "Who is Mini?" Tonks asked turning her face away from Mad Eye and shutting her eyes. There was no place in the ministry for tears. They where a weakness, something that got in the way of getting missions completed and in daggered her fellow Aurors. Still though she was not able to stop the flow of tears on her face, her mind felt murky and shallow and every thought that she tried to grasp would slip away from her like falling rain. Falling rain which replenished flowers but wilted the thoughts inside her mind, again she felt as though she was trapped, not worthy of the badge that she had been wearing at the time she had been ambushed.

"Never you mind girl," Moody growled as he had always done whenever Tonks asked who Mini was. Tonks did not have to turn her head to know his face would have the fine redness of a Tuscan sunset across his cheeks. "Here," He shoved a handkerchief, into her face, Tonks took it, wiping her faces and blowing her nose in a unladylike fashion.

When she had been younger her mother had tried to break her of that habit saying it was unladylike to sound like a thousand horses galloping at once when she blow her noses. From then on Tonks did it just to annoy her mother.

Tonks dapped at her eyes again taking a deep breath. She knew that her nose was overly red and her eyes would have deep bags underneath them from crying. A friend had once told her she was a like a Barbie doll, a muggle toy, which had a thousand different outfits, and hair styles, face, noses, eyes, and mouths. Tonks was always able to hide who she was behind another face, or another hair do. She could be someone different entirely, yet when she cried, the mask came off. Her face became red and blotchy and her nose ran like a flowing river that could not be damned up.

"Lets have a look girl," Moody said, Tonks took a deep breath and looked over at him hoping her face was not revealing more then she wanted. Moody though seemed to see right through the tight press of her lips and the deep steady breathing she was forcing herself to do. "Well, your not going to win a beauty pageant but you'll pass."

"Gee, thanks," Tonks muttered wiping her nose with her handkerchief and trying to push herself up with her one good arm. Moody seeming to know what she wanted stood up and settled a few pillows behind her propping her up without her looking as though she was being held up. "Thanks," Tonks mutter looking around her room. She was in a small private room off of the main ward. It looked as though someone had planted a garden inside of the room, many different types of flowers and colors gleamed back at her. Reds, blues, oranges and yellows all meshed together creating a glorious rainbow of the outside world. Tonks took a deep breath hoping to smell the beautiful scents that would assault her nose and then immediately regretted it. Her newly healed nose gave a very painful throb and released more snot onto her face. Using the handkerchief again Tonks wiped at her face looking at the door when a knock sounded. "Yes?" She called wondering who would bother to knock. After all everyone she knew would just walk in, they always had whenever Tonks had been sent to the Hospital wing with yet another hidden injury.

"Hello Auror Tonks," Tonks strayed in a amazement. The man was rail thin, and very tall. His long silver bread was tucked into his belt and betrayed his age. His long blue robes swirled around him as he swept into the room taking in the impressive array of flowers before settling on his former student. His blue eyes which peered out at her over half moon spectaculars glimmered sharply with kindness and concern. "Quite a first assignment you had I have heard," Albus Dumbledore said taking out his wand, waving it twice and settling in one of the two chairs that had appeared.

Tonks stared at him a second longer before looking up for who the second chair belonged to. Once again she felt as though the air had been stolen from her body she tingled for a moment with shock and dull pain before she exhaled softly through her mouth. A tall straight back witch swept into the room her blue robes offsetting her eyes quiet nicely. Her black hair had been put up into a lower bun then normal and her face and eyes looked sternly out from her square spectacles. "Nymphadora Tonks," She said nodding and then nodded to Moody before checking to make sure the door was sealed shut and taking her seat next to the Headmaster. "Molly is right, she does look pekish."

Tonks stared even hard at her, what in Merlin boots was her former Transfiguration teacher doing in contact with Molly Weasley? Or any of the Weasley family for that matter, it had been years since she, herself had any contact with the family. Although in school she had been best friends with Bill, who was now in Romania studying Dragons. She could remember Molly as a short squat woman slightly overweight and with the kindness smile Tonks had ever seen. She use to love to do things to make her smile and laugh. Her words where always kind, even when they where harsh and while her hands were harsh and worked roughened they gave a warm hug when it was needed.

"How are you feeling Nymphadora?" Dumbledore asked leaning forward and pressing his two index fingers together.

"Don't call me-"

"Nymphadora," Moody and Tonks finished together and Tonks glared at him. Her former teachers laughed and Tonks looked at McGonagall again as if she had grown two heads. Never in all the years she had known her, had she ever heard McGonagall laugh. She was the strictest teacher that Hogwarts had ever seen with her lips always pressed into a thin line. Students who where lucky enough to receive one of her smiles often walked about in a dream like state for much of the day afterwards.

She felt as though she had fallen under some type of dream spell. As if at any moment someone would speak and she would wake up. Or that her spirit would finally wake up and realize that she had not survived the fight. This could not be true though, even her mind could not come up with something as strange as this. Tonks felt her mind spinning in circles; she looked over McGonagall's shoulder at the wall behind her. Cream colored curtains hung from there, the texture contrast against the wall seemed a pretty contrast. A gentle color differences compared to the blast of bright colors which the flower arguments she had receive made. "I want to get out of here," Tonks said finally asking her old Headmaster question, "And I want to know what happened to the other Aurors."

"Did the Ministry not speak with you?" McGonagall asked in what Tonks suspected was meant to be a gentle tone. Some of her old harshness crept into it though, she was sitting strangely uptight in her chair. Her back was as straight as a wand would be her mouth pressed into a thin line as she sat between the two men.

'She's not comfortable,' Tonks inner voice said.

She mentally rolled her eyes. Of course she was not comfortable; she was sitting in a hospital room at the bedside of one of her ex students. She could not think of any teacher that would find comfort in sitting beside the bed side of a wounded student.

"No, I woke up and only Moody was here. The two of you arrived shortly afterwards," Tonks said gesturing with her good hand. The pain she felt seemed to be receding slightly for the moment turning into a dull burn instead of pin prickles of pain.

"I see," Minerva McGonagall said flatly shaking her head and then folding her arms. It would appear she would say no more on the subject.

Tonks looked to the other two raising her eyebrows as they both fidgeted and looking away from her. It almost seemed as though they where two little boys caught with their hands in the cookie jar. "They died, didn't they?" Tonks asked feeling a coil of anger unwrap in her stomach. She wrapped her good fist into her blanket waiting for her answer. The sound of silences was all the answer she needed; she was the only one who had lived through the attack.

"Levington lived….but his mind won't be the same," Moody said finally his voice having a air of finality in it.

The life of an Auror was like that, one moment you were gracing this earth with your presence. The next moment, your body was lifeless and those who loved you must would put you to rest in the cold unyielding earth. All you were after that were the things that were tucked into a box then set into the attic.

"I think…a bit of wine is in order….a small glass won't hurt you Tonks," Albus said pulling out his wand and waving it once. Four glasses goblets appeared along with a bottle of wine; they hovered for a moment before the bottle tipped pouring white liquid into the clear glasses. Once they were filled they floated to each person. Tonks could not help but notice that hers had quite a bit less in it than the others.

She took a small sip enjoying the fizzing bubbles on her tongue. The others followed suit seeming to be lost in thought. As though their bodies still sat in the hospital room with Tonks yet their minds raced a thousand miles away in many different directions.

Something Tonks had read in the Daily Prophet a week ago drifted into her mind, something to do with what happened in the final task of the Triwizard Tournament. The Boy Who Lived had come out of the maze clutching the dead body of Cedric Diggory. He had claimed that Peter Petegrew had murdered him, and that He Who Must Not Be Named was back.

Since then she had heard whisper among the older Aurors. Stories of how it had been before He had vanished. Those who had one day been there and the next day been gone; bodies which were found laying in their beds. A green skull with a snake protruding from its mouth hovering above their homes. They whispered of ones whom they thought had been on He Who Must Not Be Names side and then came back over to the good side claiming they had been jinxed into doing it.

"It is true then, Voldermolt is back?" Tonks asked running her finger around the rim of her wine glasses.

McGonagall jumped spilling some of her wine into her lap, "Yes, it is true," Albus said patting McGonagall on the back. If Tonks had not heard the rumors about the Headmaster being gay she would have thought there was something between the two of them. Moody was looking at Tonks his lips pressed into a hard thin line his hands clenched at his sides. "I have always held the opinion that He was never truly gone. His physical form was gone but his soul…his soul stayed behind surviving where it could. Now He has found a form again."

Tonks nodded feeling a shiver run up her spine. Her parents had always supported the opinion that Albus was right. Voldermolt would one day come back. "Ministry doesn't think so…" Tonks said still tracing the rim of her wine glasses.

Was it true? Could Voldermolt really be back after all this time? It seemed possible, someone has powerful as he had been would always find a way back. True evil was hard to destroy even if they were hit by a reversed killing curse.

"The Minister is a fool," Moody said flatly setting down his own wine glasses and taking a large sip from the hip flask he drew from the inside of his robes. Tonks took another drink of her wine ignoring the sound that Moody made when she did not check it for poison. It was twice that she had failed on one of the key most lessons he had taught her. She was sure she would hear it later…

"I know this is far fetched-"

"Not really," Tonks said, "There is the body of the Diggory boy. Unless the Boy Who Lived killed him which is even more far fetched then Voldemort coming back," Tonks said taking the final sip of her wine and setting it down on her bedside.

Her body was starting to throb again flashes of pain traveling up and down her legs, abdomen and left arm. There had only been when time when she had felt this much pain, after a Quidditch accident when she had been at school. Then she had been able to fight it back though, the fact that they had slaughtered the Slytherin's in their final match and knocked them out of the Cup running pushed the pain back. Now though with nothing but the news that Voldermolt was back, because surely if the Headmaster thought he was, he was, the pain had nothing to drive it back.

Blind trust. The two words that had gotten better Aurors then she was killed. They put their trust in someone they thought was worth, until they felt the knife plunge into their backs. Then as they lay dying, or in that moment before death they realized that their trust had been placed without proper sight. Blind trust.

Dumbledore nodded his head slowly his wine goblet sat empty in his hand, "You need time," He said rubbing the bridge of his nose, "You very nearly lost your life in a Death Eater attack," Tonks glanced at him, she had thought it was just a random attack, dark wizards fighting back against being hauled in on charges that they called "unjust." It made sense though, it being a Death Eater attack, it had been to calculated, too in control to be just a random attack. No one had known they were coming, it had been just a few minutes before the shift ended when they had been called to arms. It had been Levington who called them to the battle, who knew where they had to go. Even so he had let another take the lead, preferring instead to stand beside a first year Auror…She frowned her mind winding in circles. Had it been a set up, and if so what did Voldermolt want with senior Aurors? She snorted even as the thought entered her mind and dismissed it, he'd want them dead. Able bodies willing to fight against him and his own, he'd want them dead and buried food only for the worms. "Moody will explain more of what is happening, what we are doing to resist Voldemolt. Please understand that we do not expect you to join, if you want to not fight it is your choice. Minerva and I merely wanted to come and see if you where alright. You were always a exceptional student, it is good to see your doing fair." He roses from his chair smoothing his robes he reached out and shook Tonks hand. McGonagall stood herself squeezing Tonks hand and following Albus out. Tonks strayed after them confused In all her years at Hogwarts and the visit she had to the Headmaster Office had she ever thought he might show up in her hospital room after she was attacked. Of course the thought that he was here only to recruit her to fight against the threat which was rising, which the news papers said was nonexistent made more sense. With a groan Tonks leaned back against her pillows shutting her eyes against the blinding white light. She could see them dance behind her closed eyelids colliding together and then spiraling in circles dancing against the black blinds of her closed eyes. Her body gave a horrible throb and she took a deep breath breathing through it. She could remember the stories of those she had heard died or had been tortured.

Alice and Frank Longbottom.

The Prewitt family.

Lily and James Potter.

The Longbottoms, and Potters had both left children behind. Children to grow up without parents.

The fact that Sirius Black, her cousin and James Potter's best friend had betrayed them to their death. He two had left the Potter child without someone who truly cared about them without someone to rises him.

Opening her eyes Tonks looked at Moody who was sitting in his chair watching her, "I can call a medi-witch."

"Pass."

"You were just in a major attack."

"Pass," Tonks said again looking back up at the ceiling. Those spiraling little lines that painted up the ceiling, the small dips where the paint had been put on to thinly.

"Nymphadora."

"Don't call me Nymphadora."

"Stubborn Lass."

"Always have been," Tonks said looking back at him again and biting on her lip to keep from yawning, or crying out from pain. She was not sure which one her body wanted her to do. She felt as though she was hanging on the edge of a cliff. Her heart hammered in her chest creating more pain in her cracked ribs…."What did the Headmaster want you to tell me?"

Moody sighed settling back into his chair, "You need rest, not that I mind talking battle plans all night but you nearly lost your life."

"I'll take a pain potion when you're finished talking to me," Tonks said quickly leaping on the chance to hear what the Headmaster had meant. His leaving and not saying a word about it made her wonder want to know more. Had he done that simple because he knew it would spark the curiosity in her mind. Or had he really just come in to see how she was doing and ended up saying the wrong thing all together. She had never thought about Dumbledore making a mistake before though. In all the years she had known him he had never once made any kind of mistake…Or at less not to her knowledge.

"Fine," Moody growled folding his arms against his chest and scowling at her, Tonks merely smiled. "Back during the first war we were caught unawares. Within a few months of Voldemolt attacking publicly our world was in shambles. The Ministry was working night and day trying to put a end to the attacks. Every time we started to get a little ahead something else would happen, someone else would die. It was then that Albus created the Order. It was made up of wizards and witches that wanted to fight against what was happening. We were able to save many lifes that way. Because of what Potter did, warning us against what was coming….Albus was able to resemble the Order in-"

"Auror Tonks, it is good to see you awake," Tonks jerked herself up right biting hard on her lip to keep herself from screaming out loud. Rufus Scrimeour had just swept into her room behind him Kingsley a senior agent trailed his face sat in a series expression. Moody cleared his throat his eyes flicking to Tonks chest who glanced down and quickly jerked her gown back into places.

She had only ever met the head of the Auror department once. Back when she had first applied to become a Auror. Her opinion of him had not changed much in the years since she had last seen him. He stilled moved with a sort of looping grace although he had a slight limp, his tawny hair and bushy eyebrows where streaked in grey. His mouth was pressed into a firm line as if he disapproved of the mere fact that Tonks was laying in a hospital bed. "Sir, its….its good to see you…" Tonks said not sure what else to say. She felt as though the inside of her head was being beating by a hammer.

First the appearances of Moody, and then her ex Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress from school, and now the boss of the Auror department and a senior agent who had trained her. Maybe she had fallen through a mirror and was now on the opposite side of it. Maybe this was a different demission in which important people visited non-important people. Where Voldemort was back and people denied the truth because they were too scared. Maybe if she shut her eyes and kept them closed she would go home. She would wake up in her double wide bed in her fault underneath the crisp cotton linens. As she did every morning she would roll onto her side and pressing her face into the crispness pillow and inhale deeply. There was nothing better then the fresh smell of cotton. It flooded the sense and said good night tempting one back to sleep. If Tonks did not preset her coffee pot at night, she would never get out of her bed. Maybe that was where she was now, in her bed, having one of the weirdest dreams she had ever had in her adult life. Maybe she would wake up in a few moments, weeks ago when the article about the Boy Who Lived first came out. Maybe…maybe…maybe….Tonks realized she had pressed her eyes closed without meaning to. Taking a deep breath she forced her eyes open ignoring the pounding blood in her ears and trying to focus on what was being said. Moody was saying something about pain medicine and her refusing it. Scrimeour was frowning even deeper then he had before pulling out his wand and flicking it for a chair for himself. He sat himself down, in the same place that the Headmaster had been sitting before. Tonks slumped her head back against her pillow, giving up on sitting up.

A dream. That's what this had to be. Just a dream. She'd open her eyes and wake up back in her bed. Back where there was no mention of Voldemolt or thoughts that the ministry might just be as stupid as her father always said. They had more than one fight about the ministry when Tonks had first voiced her desire to become a Auror. Tonks had been firmly convinced that should the need for action arise, the Ministry would step up. Her father had thought differently and thus far he was right in what he had thought. The Ministry was nothing but cowards who placed a cowardly lion in charge of their most important department.

"How are you feeling Tonks?" It struck Tonks that he was using a voice that you would use at the death bed of someone seriously ill.

"Just fine sir," Tonks said stiffly ignoring the throbbing that coursed through her body. She wished he would leave, she could finish her conversation with Moody and go to sleep. Then when she woke up this dream would be over and she could go back to whatever it was her life was before news had reached the Auror department of what Potter had seen. She would defiantly have less paper to push then.

"Mmmph, good I expect you back in the office Monday then," Behind him Kinsley shifted his weight from one foot the other keeping his disapproval hidden behind a mask of indifference.

"Yes sir."

"You are aware of what has been going on inside the Ministry Auror Tonks?" Tonks nodded her head watching Moody lean forward slightly. Was this the real reason that the head of her office had come? "Good, the lies that Albus Dumbledore are spreading is a illness that must be stopped. Of course none of us have the power to simple boot him out of Hogwarts although many parents have written with concern about him spreading his poison into the minds of young child," As the Head of the Auror department spoke he was watching Moody from the corner of his eye. It was well known that Moody and Albus were closes. "So the Ministry will bide their time. We are sending Dolores Umbridge as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher," Tonks felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. No one in their right mind would send that toad of a woman to teach students, "Even so, changes will be slow and we need all the young minded good Aurors that we have. Your attack as of late is a unfortunate turn of events but merely a unfortunate turn. There has been some talk within the Ministry that the attack was because someone betrayed us. This is not true and you will do will to dislude all the rumors that you can when you return on Monday. The ministry would appreciate it if you would release a statement to the press being the only sane survivor."

Tonks simply stared at him unsure what to say, he and the Ministry wanted her to lie. To pretend what had happen was just a random turn of events that meant nothing and had no connection to the last few weeks? The expression on the Head Aurors face as he said this promised that if she did not compile then she would find herself labeled not so sane and locked away. "Yessir," Tonks said her eyes already seeking the sweet mindlessness of the ceiling. A dream, that's what this had to be, just a bad dream that she would wake up from soon.

'Eyes of melting chocolate.'

She could see him now, silhouetted against the sun. The sun which had glared down at her pale yellow warming her cold body and driving back some of the pain she had felt. The man's disheveled brown hair that fell into his eyes and the small smile which played at his lips.

She could not have dreamed that…could she have? Yet she had been dreaming of the same man since she was old enough to know what love is.

Of course the man she had dreamed about had been a lot handsomer then the man she had seen. Still though this man had held a certain beauty about him; a beauty that took her breath away as she lay dying on the ground her body broken. There had been a innocence about him which stayed even with all the death that lay around him. While he hovered above him sunlight reflected all around him that pale yellow light warming but not quiet warming.

Everything had been a dream. Everything was a dream, a dream in which she was trapped and unable to wake up from. Drifting she could hear her boss rising from his chair talking to Moody who nodded his head stiffly at the younger man. He returned to talking to Tonks although what he said was lost on her, she could only hear the beating of her heart. The white lines of the ceiling was closed in on her again the burning ache from her wounds stealing her breath clouding her mind.

"Feel better Tonks," Kingsley voice said although it came from a great lake miles away from him. Maybe he was yelling to make sure he heard her Tonks tried to answer but the words never came. Just like when she lay in that field fighting against her own body to say something, do something, that would bring those searching to them. Her words failed her, her tongue felt to heavy, her mind to blurry to do anything.

Wars, the thought of a second war happening. Having to lie to the public. They all weighed heavy on her mind, she pressed her lips together to keep from calling out. Calling out for what she was not sure, few words had been said and fewer actions taken yet she felt as though she had been caught up in the tempest of a storm. Nothing made sense it was all just out of her reach, if she could just reach out and grab it then maybe everything would make sense. One thing was clear though, the Ministry wanted to use her. To make everyone believe that everything was just fine even when everything was just falling about. Seven senior Aurors, she had set out with them all from the Ministry. They had been joking when they left laughing that they soon would be home again. Talking about the dinners their wives or husbands would have waiting for them when they got back. Not one of them had made it back, only Tonks and only because someone had gotten their just in time.

She knew now that it had not been the Ministry. She knew that no one from the Auror department had eyes that color of melting chocolate. Beside that they had been the only ones to know that they were going out, it had been a last minute assignment. They had been attacked the moment that they arrived there none of them had time to send a patronus for help. 'The Order' it had to be. The group of people that Moody had been telling her about.

Did Voldemolt know that there was a group of people fighting to stop him? Had he known that the seven Aurors that he had murdered would have proven very deadly assailments in a fight? Is that why they were dead now? Is that why Tonks was alive. Because she was not that much of a threat. Just a junior Auror with her head full of dreams and idea's.

"They had families," Tonks muttered turning her face side to side on her pillow trying to find a cool spot. She need something cool to lay on, she was sure the pillow was intent on burning her it had gotten so hot.

"We all do girl," Moody said lifting her head and turning the pillow around as if knowing the pillows intentions of burning her alive.

"They don't. Not anymore," Tonks said turning her head on the pillow again to look at Moody. He was sitting in his chair calmly, yet something in his eyes told Tonks that she was reacting in the exact way he had expected her too. "This all feels like a dream," Tonks muttered looking back up at the ceiling, she noticed that Moody looked up too and she smiled. Her old teacher had never found the same comfort that she did in colors and lights. There was joy to be had in a place full of color, it spoke of life.

"I suppose your right," Moody said as someone knocked and entered.

Tonks glanced at who it was, a young witch dressed in white dress robes. She was wearing a kind smile and holding a vile of something. Tonks made a disgusted faces causing the woman to stifle a laugh, "Auror Shuttlebolt said you were ready for some more pain potion Ms. Tonks."

"Thanks," Tonks said taking it and gulping it down. It didn't taste as bad as the potion that Mad Eye had given her. As it trickled down her throat it felt as though her entire body was growing warm. It spread through her limbs numbing the pain, her body was growing heavy within a moment. She didn't even hear the woman leave, although she did hear the soft click of the door being shut. Her old mentor had clambered to his feet smoothing back his grey hair as he did so and swinging a traveling cloak onto his shoulders. Her tongue felt weird, as if she had bitten down on it to hard but was trying to speak with it anyway. She could feel the words that she wanted to say, they hovered on the edge of her tongue trying to force their way through from her mouth even as her eyes began to fall shut the start of her favorite childhood lullaby humming through her mind.

I will join.

Tonks was not sure if she said the words or if she simple thought them. She watched Moody stop with his hand on the door jerking his head once in a nodded. "Sleep girl, I'll be back tomorrow." And then he was gone, and nothing but the whiteness of the room stayed behind him.

The silence was harsh a echo of all the half spoken truths that had been said by the head of her department. The walls seemed to be dancing, swaying large sea waves that rocked you back and forth. Sweeping you away from thoughts of revenge, thoughts of the seven dead Aurors who would never again see their families. Or maybe they where somewhere where they were able to look down on them.

She sighed softly, her body was heavy and her mind although still filled with thoughts was at last silent. She drifted off and on, the waves felt warm as they nipped at her feet or as she ran along the beach her feet barely touching the sand. Here she had no worries about anything, or anyone, or tripping she need only to run to wade through the warm ocean water….

Fin


End file.
